Permanent junior researcher application (deadline 14 march 2024)

Application deadline: 14 March 2024

About the role

Join the research unit QUALISUD team 6, “Diet, Nutrition, Health of population in the global South,” part of the Joint Research Unit QUALISUD. The unit focuses on developing an integrated approach for the controlled and sustainable production of food with optimal organoleptic, health, and nutritional qualities. Research areas include food processing, post-harvest processes, sensory and nutritional quality, health benefits, safety, and technological properties of foods.

The team aims to improve the nutritional quality of foods consumed by vulnerable groups in developing countries, exploring relationships between food matrices, transformation processes, agrobiodiversity, microbiota, and the host. For example, the formulation of fermented foods of high nutritional quality involves microbiology and biochemistry methods to identify fermentation actors, characterize their functions, and design nutritious foods.

You will join a multidisciplinary collective (epidemiology, food science) working on the innovative field of food and intestinal microbiota. In a dynamic team of around ten people, you will participate in projects of varying sizes to help resolve nutritional problems in the global South. The team’s original approaches focus on undernutrition and the use of microorganisms to combat dietary deficiencies. The multicultural environment and collaborations with public and private organizations in Africa, Asia, and France will allow you to contribute to implementing concrete solutions to fight malnutrition.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to research projects focused on improving nutritional quality of foods for vulnerable populations in developing countries.
• Participate in multidisciplinary studies on food and intestinal microbiota.
• Apply microbiology and biochemistry methods to identify and characterize fermentation actors and their functions.
• Collaborate with public and private organizations across Africa, Asia, and France to develop and implement solutions for malnutrition.
• Engage in the formulation of fermented foods with high nutritional quality.

Requirements

• Expertise in one or more of the following areas: human health, nutrition, life sciences (animal, plant, viral, microbiological), genetics, or physiology.
• Interest in working within the specialized scientific commission “Biological and medical sciences” (CSS2).

To apply, contact Christèle Humblot at christele.humblot@ird.fr.